Drakain
Trakanon Raider
- 1,585
- 688
Yeah, guess I was looking for some actual 'screen' time for him. He was one of the more interesting bad guys.
Wheel of Time series
- Thread starter Wolfen_sl
- Start date
Sterling
El Presidente
- 12,958
- 7,855
Think this is sort of a trend as I mentioned earlier. They jammed a ton of stuff into a single book that at earlier pacing would have likely been 3 or more books so a lot of stuff didn't get covered or wasn't fleshed out.
Ameraves
New title pending...
- 12,917
- 13,853
Finally finished!
Much of my complaints and good points have already been covered by others, but will post them anyways.
- I swore some of Min's readings of Egwene said she would be Amyrlin for a long time, so I was quite shocked by her death. It has been a long time since I did a re-read, so I am quite sure I simply remembered them wrong
- After Gawyn and Galad both failed to kill Demondred, I thought for sure Mat would be the one to finish him. I figured it would be fitting since he whooped both their asses with his staff way back when. So with his fox medallion, his ashenderi he would go pwn Demondred to show that a staff was better than a sword. Oh well, was happy to see Lan rape face
- As everyone has already mentioned, the sudden ending of Fain. Bleh whatever
- HATED the shit with Rand and the DO. The stupid what-if visions got really old really quick. I thought the ending with them was fine, but felt the build up was quite lame.
- Would liked to have seen Rand rape some face with the One Power in the actual battles some more before he went to face off with the DO.
- Was shocked by Birgitte's death, but knew almost immediately she would be summoned with the horn. Her death just seemed to quick for some reason.
- The Sharran's was odd. I recall thinking way back in the early books that even though they were separated by that huge wall or whatever, they should still be affected by the DO and all that since they are still part of the world. So it seemed odd that Jordan even mentioned them and then were just sort of not explored. Suddenly bringing them in felt a bit...off and forced I guess
- My favorite scene may very well have been when Rand and Mat met up, one upping each other. That made me smile
- For some reason I thought Moiraine would end up being Amyrlin. Cadsuane seemed too old, but I suppose that is fitting as well
Overall just really happy with the book. Some minor complaints but I really don't think I imagined it to be much better.
- I swore some of Min's readings of Egwene said she would be Amyrlin for a long time, so I was quite shocked by her death. It has been a long time since I did a re-read, so I am quite sure I simply remembered them wrong
- After Gawyn and Galad both failed to kill Demondred, I thought for sure Mat would be the one to finish him. I figured it would be fitting since he whooped both their asses with his staff way back when. So with his fox medallion, his ashenderi he would go pwn Demondred to show that a staff was better than a sword. Oh well, was happy to see Lan rape face
- As everyone has already mentioned, the sudden ending of Fain. Bleh whatever
- HATED the shit with Rand and the DO. The stupid what-if visions got really old really quick. I thought the ending with them was fine, but felt the build up was quite lame.
- Would liked to have seen Rand rape some face with the One Power in the actual battles some more before he went to face off with the DO.
- Was shocked by Birgitte's death, but knew almost immediately she would be summoned with the horn. Her death just seemed to quick for some reason.
- The Sharran's was odd. I recall thinking way back in the early books that even though they were separated by that huge wall or whatever, they should still be affected by the DO and all that since they are still part of the world. So it seemed odd that Jordan even mentioned them and then were just sort of not explored. Suddenly bringing them in felt a bit...off and forced I guess
- My favorite scene may very well have been when Rand and Mat met up, one upping each other. That made me smile
- For some reason I thought Moiraine would end up being Amyrlin. Cadsuane seemed too old, but I suppose that is fitting as well
Overall just really happy with the book. Some minor complaints but I really don't think I imagined it to be much better.
I got the feeling that balefireing people does a lot more damage to the pattern than just casting it on the ground. Tearing peoples threads out vs just destroying rocks.
I dunno, I thought they made it pretty clear that despite all the bluff and bluster, the DO did not really want to destroy the pattern, he just wanted to be in control at any cost. So just randomly balefiring shit doesn't really achieve that goal.
Mudcrush Durtfeet
Hungry Ogre
- 2,428
- -758
Was good, but not quite the all consuming last battle I was hoping for. I'm pretty sure there was a prophecy saying that Rand would save the world and break it, and well, it's not broken. Well, it's done now.
Azrayne
Irenicus did nothing wrong
- 2,161
- 786
I think they were being metaphorical. They could have gone further I agree, but considering the massive shifts in the world political stage, I'd say it still qualifies.
Mudcrush Durtfeet
Hungry Ogre
- 2,428
- -758
Considering how the previous age ended, I suspect that Jordan intended something a little more apocalyptic.
Just finished it. I wouldn't say it was underwhelming so much as I think the book being 3/4ths or more of battle scenes, reading it just kind of left me numb. I think it could have used another 20 or 30 pages to build upFain (Showing Mashadar slowly moving across the country side towards the Last battle, occassionaly taking over refugees etc would have been easy to do.) maybe show Hawkwing meeting Tuon and a better explanation of what the fuck was going on with Alanna. Also thought the ending could have used a greater sense of closure for some storylines/characters but if it was written by RJ and he had already planned on doing spin offs, I can at least see why it was done that way.
As for the Balefire stuff
Its established when Rand confronts TDO that TDO's motives could be any number of things and that TDO is a liar and will lie even to those that serve him, so it cant be taken as fact that he wants the world destroyed. Also mentioned in the books, when Lewis Therin and the Dreadlords both stopped using balefire in the Age of Legends, the forces of TDO were well on their way to winning the war, thus had no further need to use a weapon that could potentially endanger themselves as well. In the final battle, a single victory could determine the fate of the world thereby outweighing the prohibition for its use, at least, for the shadow.
Anyway, thought it was a good read overall and a fitting end to the series
As for the Balefire stuff
Its established when Rand confronts TDO that TDO's motives could be any number of things and that TDO is a liar and will lie even to those that serve him, so it cant be taken as fact that he wants the world destroyed. Also mentioned in the books, when Lewis Therin and the Dreadlords both stopped using balefire in the Age of Legends, the forces of TDO were well on their way to winning the war, thus had no further need to use a weapon that could potentially endanger themselves as well. In the final battle, a single victory could determine the fate of the world thereby outweighing the prohibition for its use, at least, for the shadow.
Anyway, thought it was a good read overall and a fitting end to the series
I seem to recall that sounding about right, but that conversation does not mean that using balefire in the final battle wasn't meant as a superior tactic/weapon as opposed to the intention being to destroy the pattern.
An interesting thought, and I could be wrong, but the only Forsaken that actually claims to desire nothingness is Ishmael/Moridin and I don't recall (again could be wrong on this) him ever using balefire himself.
The far bigger Gandalf's eagle thing with the story was the fact that the final seals were in TDO's possession apparently months (if not longer) before the four earlier battles began. TDO could of had them destroyed before the world and Rand was ready. In fact, when Rand is on Dragon Mount, the wolves tell Perrin that either the last hunt will begin or "nothing" Perhaps TDO could have destroyed the seals back when Rand was in full angry mode to insure nothingness, if that was what TDO really wanted.
Got to about page 300 in AMOL and became frustrated with not remembering who too many people were. Downloaded the series to Kindle for a re-read and am now frustrated with not having an easy way to flip back and forth to the glossary to keep track of everyone - the black Ajah members seem to be the hardest for me to keep up with. Hadn't read the first book since I was 15, though, and was amazed at how many things were hinted as early as the first book and not fleshed out until so much later in the series.
Tilion
Trakanon Raider
- 12
- 11
Finished the book last week. Thought it was pretty good overall, but there were some complaints:
- I would have liked to at least learned whether the side characters survived or died during the last battle.
- I hated how Ruarc died. I always thought that he would go out fighting.
- I thought Cadsuane should have died in battle instead of living.
- How Fain died, like everyone else mentioned.
- I also always thought that Rand with his LTT memories would give the Tinkers the song they were searching for.
- The Sharran's also felt tacked onto the book, as if they had to try to find some way to introduce them.
If the book had been about 100-200 pages longer, or Sanderson had been given more freedom, it would have been better.
- I hated how Ruarc died. I always thought that he would go out fighting.
- I thought Cadsuane should have died in battle instead of living.
- How Fain died, like everyone else mentioned.
- I also always thought that Rand with his LTT memories would give the Tinkers the song they were searching for.
- The Sharran's also felt tacked onto the book, as if they had to try to find some way to introduce them.
If the book had been about 100-200 pages longer, or Sanderson had been given more freedom, it would have been better.
9veh
Trakanon Raider
- 6
- 0
Have not read the book myself yet, so did not check all the earlier posts if this has been posted before or not.
Link to small book summaries from the earlier titles for those not too keen on a full re-read:
http://library.tarvalon.net/index.ph...Book_Summaries
Link to small book summaries from the earlier titles for those not too keen on a full re-read:
http://library.tarvalon.net/index.ph...Book_Summaries
Azrayne
Irenicus did nothing wrong
- 2,161
- 786
He used it in Shadar Logoth when Rand was fighting Sammael there, that's how they ended up with their mental connection, so he has at least once.
Though it makes you wonder, if he's so desperate for an end to the cycle, why not just balefire himself? Much easier than reincarnating over and over to try destroy the world.
It actually reminded me a lot of the Haradrim from LOTR. Primitive eastern themed culture who have little to no role in the main chain of events till right up at the end then bam they rock up outta nowhere to fight for the enemy.
It seemed a fitting conclusion to the series. A little disappointing in spots but there were far too many loose ends in this series to ever be neatly tied up. I think that while Sanderson is a better writer than Jordan that Jordan had a way of incorporating epic moments into his writing that fell away after Sanderson took over.
On the whole I'm mostly just glad that I don't have to ever wait for another book in this series to be released. 23 years of my life is long enough.
On the whole I'm mostly just glad that I don't have to ever wait for another book in this series to be released. 23 years of my life is long enough.